Today I asked my grade nines to memorize a dialogue. Each pair of students was required to ask 6 questions and answer 6 questions in French. I gave them class time to rehearse and help each other remember their lines.
My instructions were that they have a conversation without props: no paper, nothing read.
Some began to write their lines on their hands and arms! Some said they couldn't memorize things. I was in a quandary: should I have allowed scripts to read from, or cards to prompt them? Since some students have difficulty with auditory memory and visual memory, was it fair to have this requirement?
When it was time to present I chose the group that had the lines perfectly memorized to lead off. Perhaps this would influence others to believe they could do it too. Then students asked if marks would be deducted if they had prompts on their hands and arms. I replied that looking down would get in the way of communication, so they would lose a mark if they looked at any written prompt, including body parts.
In the end, only 2 groups out of 11 used written prompts. I was impressed that so many who thought they needed the written support were quite able to get the message across without it.
In the end memorizing reinforces practice, repetition and mastery. Is there a down side?
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Yes, I think the potential risk is the student who can't overcome their fear of failure and gives in by making notes. I think perhaps a certain amount of scaffolding should have been involved to help build the confidence of those with different learning styles. There is also the fear of doing badly in front of their peers. Students at this age place a great deal of value in peer perception so a little help from the instructor would go a long way in helping said students to save face.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charmaine! As someone who did not have a lot of confidence presenting in front of classmates, memorization was another hurdle, as if presenting wasn't a struggle enough in itself. I know many students who have a fear of failure and if there is a safe net, like writing prompts on their hand, they would use it. I'm not saying you should've let them use it but maybe encouraging them and giving them tips on HOW to memorize would have been helpful. Also, putting myself in their shoes, if you told the group who had it fully memorized to go first, that would make me even more nervous. Not feeling confident in my ability and then seeing another group do it would feel like a lot more pressure.
ReplyDeleteThis post is by Alice Zywiel (I entered my name but it still shows "Anonymous" for some reason)
ReplyDeleteI don’t think there’s really a down side. Memorization is extremely important, I believe it strengthens the brain as a whole, and in today’s world students think there’s no need to remember anything because they can always google it. For this reason they need to practice memorization now more than ever.
It’s interesting that while the students lacked confidence, in the end most were able to memorize it. Perhaps in their day-to-day lives they have a habit of just looking things up instead of taking a few seconds to search their brains, so even if they know certain information, they’re not used to having to recall it without any technological assistance.
Having the most prepared group begin might have the down side of intimidating those who are less prepared and less confident.
An alternative approach would be to allow students several days between receiving or writing the lines and the actual performance. Then it would be up to the students to decide how much time they put in practicing it after school over several days. Each student could then put in however much time he/she needs after school over several days in order to have it confidently memorized by the performance date. The students who memorize easily wouldn’t need much time, and the ones who need more time would be practicing an important skill.
Repetition, I believe is a useful exercise for our brains. That said, the usefulness does include some factors worth considering. Some of these may have been in place and not mentioned in the blog.
ReplyDeleteI believe for students to enter more fully into learning, need a context for their learning. No context or purpose is mentioned in the scenario described. Questions might arise in their minds like, “Why are we learning this?” ”How does fit into my life experience?” This would effect their motivation for learning, a downside.
It is not clear from the narrative that the students understand what the words they are repeating actually mean. Repetition without any understanding does little to expand their knowledge if they have no way to relate the material to anything else.
Again the blog does not provide us with a context for this one class/exercise. A question of the students having a safe environment to learn in, comes to mind. We are not made aware of how safe the students feel with their peers or teacher. To stand up in front of the whole class, as has been mentioned by previous commenters, is a daunting prospect. A prospect that may make the less confident students feel decidedly unsafe. One solution, if not more time consuming option, would be to afford the opportunity for students do the exercise in a smaller group first. With positive peer feedback, students would feel safer and more confident when doing the exercise in front of all their peers.
So I believe that repetition would be more valuable if these factors were taken into account.